Ingredients: |
Ingredients: small handful dried porcini mushrooms (about 10g) – not essential but very tasty
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1kg braising steak (buy this as a whole piece and cut it yourself into large chunks)
2 large onions, roughly chopped
4 large carrots, chopped into large chunks
2 tsp golden caster sugar
4 tbsp plain flour
300ml dark ale
2 beef stock cubes mixed with 400ml boiling water
small bunch each thyme, bay leaf and parsley, tied together
200g smoked bacon lardons, or chopped rashers
200g chestnut mushrooms, halved
Pastry
650g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
250g lard or cold butter (or half of each), diced, plus extra for greasing
1 egg yolk, beaten, to glaze
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Directions: |
Directions:Cover 10g of mushrooms in boiling water for 20 mins, then squeeze out but keep the soaking water.
Heat oven to 320 degrees. Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a large casserole dish, brown 2 pounds large chunks of braising steak really well in batches, then set aside. Add 2 large onions, roughly chopped, and 4 large carrots, chopped into large chunks, to the pan. Add a drizzle more vegetable oil, then cook on a low heat for 5 mins until colored. Add the soaked porcini mushrooms, sizzle for 1 min more, then scatter over 2 tsp golden caster sugar and 4 tbsp plain flour, stirring until the flour turns brown. Tip the braising steak and any juices back into the pan and give it all a good stir. Pour over 300ml dark ale, 2 beef stock cubes mixed with 400ml boiling water and the porcini mushroom soaking liquid, discarding the last few drops. Season the stew, tuck in a small tied-together bunch of thyme, bay leaf and parsley, and bring everything to a simmer. Cover with a lid and place in the oven for about 2 hrs, until the braising steak is really tender. While the stew is cooking, heat a drop more vegetable oil in a frying pan and sizzle 1-1/2 c. Bacon for 3 mins until crisp. Turn up the heat, add 1-1/2 c. mushrooms and cook for 4 mins until golden. Remove from the heat and, when the stew is cooked, stir them through. Leave everything to cool completely – better still, make this up to 2 days in advance and keep it in the fridge as the pie will be better if the filling is fridge-cold when added. Can also be frozen for up to 3 months and defrosted when needed.
Pastry
Make the pastry up to 2 days before you want to assemble the pie. Crumble 1-1/4 c. Whole wheat pastry flour, 1-1/4 c. all purpose flour and 1 c. Crisco or butter, together with a generous pinch of sea salt until completely combined, then add up to 200ml ice-cold water to make a soft dough. This can be done in a food processor if you want. Knead the pastry, then wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 1 hr. The pastry can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept in the fridge or frozen for up to a month.
Baking
When you want to make the pie, heat oven to 320 degrees and place a flat baking tray in the oven. Heavily grease a 24-28cm pie dish and dust well with flour. Cut a third off the pastry and set aside. Roll out the pastry to a thickish round that will easily line the pie dish with an overhang, then line the tin.
Add the braising steak to the dish using a slotted spoon so some gravy is left in the container, as you don’t want too much sauce in the pie. You want the filling to be slightly higher than the rim of the dish. If you have a bit too much, set it aside. Roll out the remaining pastry to a thick round big enough to cover the dish. Brush the edges of the pastry in the dish with 1 beaten egg yolk, then cover with the pastry lid. Trim the edges, crimp the pastry, then re-roll your trimmings to make a decoration, for example, pastry leaves. Brush the top heavily with egg. Make a few little slits in the centre of the pie, place on the hot baking tray. Bake for 40 mins until golden. Leave the pie to rest for 10 mins while you heat up the gravy left in the container. Serve the pie at the table with a jug of gravy and a big pile of greens.
For the best results, this is a two-day process and I tend to make a big batch of stew (double the amounts given here) so I have one batch in the freezer ready to make a pie when I need one. I’ve been generous with the filling as pie dishes differ but any leftover can be served as a stew or used to make a pie for one, and then frozen.
Recipe from Good Food magazine, February 2010 |
Personal
Notes: |
Personal
Notes: I discovered this recipe online and it has become my go-to British steak pie recipe. I might have been served a pie like this at Abbotsford, my dorm at St Andrews, but not often as beef was expensive. We were more likely to have chicken and leek pie, shepherds pie, fish pie or Yorkshire pudding and gravy. But this is great!
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This recipe for Proper Steak and Ale Pie, © BBC good food is from